Mailman (City Letter Carrier)

Mailman (City Letter Carrier)

MailmanDave

17 Years Experience

Long Island, NY

Male, 43

I am a City Letter Carrier for the US Postal Service in NY. I've been a city letter carrier for over 17 years and it is the best job I've ever had. I mostly work 5 days per week (sometimes includes a Saturday) and often have the opportunity for overtime, which is usually voluntary. The route I deliver has about 350 homes and I walk to each of their doors to deliver the mail. Please keep in mind that I don't have authority to speak for the USPS, so all opinions are solely mine, not my employer.

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Last Answer on February 18, 2022

Best Rated

Can a CCA become a supervisor?

Asked by Dee almost 9 years ago

I don't know that they can become a full fledged supervisor as a CCA (city carrier assistant) because that would mean being hired into a career position. A CCA is a non-career position. I've seen at least 2-3 times at the office where I work where a CCA has become a 204(b) which is an acting supervisor. It surprised me at first when this happened but I didn't have an issue with it as I had no desire to be a supervisor/manager. Some coworkers feel it's a bit absurd. The truth is that our staffing levels are so low across the board that nothing surprises me as to who goes where and does what. In our office we currently have one CCA (pregnant) who is doing the work of a 204(b). I don't know her plans once the baby is born and she comes back to work.

Is it legal for a CCA to unwillingly work 7 or more consecutive days? Either during December (the Holiday season) or during months not December.

Asked by Deee over 8 years ago

Deee, I don’t know the answer to this question. On the NALC website there is a CCA resource guide. In a section I looked at it didn’t seem to mention anything about the number of consecutive days you could be scheduled to work. We have several CCA in our office and I’m pretty sure they try to give them off one day per week, but I don’t know if it’s mandated or not. During the busy time they may work more than 7 days/week. If you have a shop steward that you could contact they may have the proper answer for you.

Can you tell me what is likely going on with this package? 92055901755477000028317195

Asked by mcmjuly almost 9 years ago

I am just speculating that the item may not have even left PR yet. It has been scanned as being processed through the San Juan PR distribution center but that may not mean it has even been loaded onto an aircraft to the mainland USA. There are significant service disruptions for mail going to/from PR due to Hurricane Maria. I don’t have any more information then to just give you this generic answer and to be patient. If you called the USPS customer service phone #, I’m guessing you’d get a similar answer.

How do you get the USPS OIG to investigate? A carrier tech never delivers catalogs. I have tested and confirmed they did not deliver at least 12 over 2 years. All other carriers have passed my tests 100%. This one fails 100%. USPS OIG does nothing.

Asked by USPS Abused over 9 years ago

I don't know anything about getting OIG to investigate anything for the USPS. I think they may have a tip hotline that can be called but I don't know if they will place your tip on any high priority. I would call that carrier a sleazeball for not delivering anything that should be. It is illegal plus the only reason our job exists is because items are being paid for that we should deliver. I have the impression that so many employees (including management) don't care at all about proper delivery of mail and what gets discarded or has the proper postage. There is so little oversight as to what we do on a daily basis unless we do something egregious or work unsafely. I'm sorry to be so negative. It's important to me that every piece of mail that is properly addressed is delivered, no matter if it's a catalog, weekly supermarket flier, or birthday card. It's all mail and should be handled accordingly.

My route is a drive and drop for 9 houses, an anonymous source said l don’t have to use my satchel, l disagree and does the carrier have to use seat belt after every stop, not sure on that, thanks again

Asked by jvitto48 over 8 years ago

For the drive and drop, I have heard that the satchel should be used as a protection in case of a dog attack. I can’t verify that is true, but I’ve rarely seen any carriers use their satchel for this type of delivery. I deliver to many houses using this method and have never carried a satchel with me. As far as seat belt use is concerned, I put it on each time I go anywhere even if just between houses that are near each other. For me, seatbelt use is an absolute all of the time. It’s an automated muscle memory item so I don’t even think about it.





In less than two weeks I will be converted to full time on a T6 route. Do you have any tips or advice?

Asked by Mr FullTime over 9 years ago

Congratulations Mr. fulltime. That's a clever name. As far as any tips or advice I have a few. First, you are there to serve the residents or businesses on the routes, not the regular carrier who normally does the route. This means you don't have to do any favors or anything that the regular asks you to do for the customers. Please just be conscientious about delivering the mail properly and accurately. I'd recommend not going too fast just to get the route done. It's best to go at a consistent moderate pace and don't waste time on your cell phone texting and talking to people when you should be focused on working safely and efficiently. If you aren't sure about a certain delivery or maybe how to do a route, you can ask the regular carrier and hopefully they will help you. I have a route which I deliver daily, but when I have a non-scheduled day, the T6 delivers it. I give my "floater" or "comp person" the information they'd need re: houses where there are vacancies or forwards or dogs to be aware of. If the regular carrier comes in for his non-scheduled day for OT, it's possible (depending on how your office operates) you could be "bumped" off that assigned route for the day and deliver another route in the office. My advice would also be to try to stay out of any office politics if possible. Having the same route to deliver daily, I don't need to know much about what else is happening at the PO. Good luck to you, sir!

Someone is using my physical address for mail but asking the PO to hold their mail for pick up. He used to live at the property but sold it in Nov2016. He will not complete a change of address form and the post master will not help. What can I do?

Asked by GG over 9 years ago

GG, I don't really have a suggestion for you. If it were affecting your mail delivery in any way I'd be quite upset and concerned. In theory, they shouldn't keep holding someone's mail for pickup indefinitely. I mean they shouldn't be able to have their mail held, pick it up, and then just put it on hold again. The solution for that person would be to rent a PO Box and have their mail forwarded to it. I know we often won't hold mail for individuals at a certain address. We usually hold the entire mail for an entire address but I can't quote you any internal policies on this because I don't know them. If any mail for the previous owner actually gets delivered to your house, I'd say that you should feel free to discard it since the PO isn't helping you at all. I know it sounds vindictive but the person who moved out or sold the property should either fill out a proper COA or just not care about any mail addressed to him at your current residence.